March 17, 2017

Popcast

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

The Popcast is hosted by Jon Caramanica, a pop music critic for The New York Times. It covers the latest in pop music criticism, trends and news.

The Top 20 of the Billboard 200 album chart this week includes Ed Sheeran and Bruno Mars, two artists who might be considered what’s left of Top 40 monoculture — acts that everyone has most likely heard on the radio or seen on TV. It also includes a legacy rock band (Metallica, benefiting from a ticket-album bundle), a streaming superstar (Future, with two LPs released back-to-back) and four soundtracks. A bizarre mix? For sure. Why is it happening?

Since Billboard began incorporating streaming data into its chart calculations, the changes have been rapid — there are more pathways to success now, with the internet identifying viral hits early, then creating a fast funnel into the mainstream.

To discuss this oddball time in chart history, Jon Caramanica is joined by The New York Times pop music reporter Joe Coscarelli and Chris Molanphy, a freelance writer for Slate, Vulture and others who is among the most diligent chroniclers and explainers of the Billboard charts.

Email us your questions, thoughts, and ideas about what’s happening in pop music at popcast@nytimes.com.